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HALLE BERRY BOOKS FIRST POST-NAHLA PROJECT: Actress signs on to star in and produce psychological drama.
*The first film project Halle Berry has signed on for since the March birth of her daughter Nahla is the psychological drama "Frankie and Alice," which follows a woman who has been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder.
If that isn't challenging enough, one of the character's alter egos is described as a racist Caucasian, according to Daily Variety.
Berry is also producing the pic with Access Motion Pictures in association with Reality Pictures in Motion. A production date and cast has yet to be announced.
Berry has several other films in the pipeline, including the romantic comedy "Nappily Ever After," for which Berry has proclaimed she will shave her head in real time. She is also due to star opposite her "Monster's Ball" partner Billy Bob Thornton in "Tulia." The John Singleton-directed drama was set to roll late last year but was postponed due to Berry's pregnancy.
"Frankie and Alice," will be the second independent production for Toronto-based Access Motion Pictures, which recently completed "Phantom Punch," a Sonny Liston biopic starring Ving Rhames and directed by Robert Townsend.
FOXY BROWN IS A FREE WOMAN: Rapper greeted Friday by family and friends outside Rikers Island.
*In the first few hours of freedom for Foxy Brown Friday, the rapper reportedly went on a shopping spree in Harlem, ate some soul food and stopped by her childhood home in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights.
It was all captured by cameras for an upcoming VH1 reality show that will chronicle her adjustment to civilian life after serving eight months of a one-year sentence at New York's Rikers' Island prison, including 40 days in solitary confinement.
The 29-year-old artist, whose real name is Inga Marchand, was sentenced in September 2007 for violating the terms of her probation after she was accused of hitting a woman with a cell phone. At the time, she was on three years' probation for an August 2004 attack on two manicurists at a Manhattan nail salon. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in the 2004 incident.
Foxy has always thought her sentence extra harsh because she is a celebrity.
"I did almost a year in prison, a year in prison, just because my name is Foxy Brown," she said, according to the Associated Press.
Inmates typically serve two-thirds of their sentence, according to rep for the Department of Corrections. Brown had been released and escorted from the Rikers Island prison by New York City Councilman Charles Barron, an unusual move as inmates are usually taken from prison on a public bus and delivered to a city parking lot. But as a public official, Barron had access to prison and had requested to pick up the rap star.
Police were on hand as the MC – dressed in a brown leather jacket, gold cross, blue jeans, and a brown Fendi head scarf – walked out of the prison and toward a caravan of vehicles, including a chauffeured white Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Along the way, she stopped to hug and take pictures with scores of fans and well-wishers who had showed up in support of her release. She was driven off with a fleet of security vehicles and paparazzi on her tail.
As previously reported, Foxy Brown will spend the next few weeks promoting the May 13 release of her album "Brooklyn's Don Diva." Her manager, Chaz Williams, told Billboard that his client is eager and ready "to get on top of her career again. She's ready to hit the ground running and do anything she needs to do to get her career back on point."
50 CENT NO LONGER AN ALICIA KEYS FAN: Rapper upset over her recent comments about gangsta rap.
*Despite repeated explanations that her recent comments about gangsta rap were taken out of context, Alicia Keys has been criticized and dismissed by self-proclaimed gangsta rapper 50 Cent.
In an interview with Blender magazine, Keys was quoted as saying, "Gangsta rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other." The Grammy-winner has since released a statement claiming her words were "misrepresented."
"The point that I was trying to make was that the term was over-sloganized by some of the media causing reactions that were not always positive," Keys said in her statement. "Many of the 'gangsta rap' lyrics articulate the problems of the artists' experiences and I think all of us, including our leaders, could be doing more to address these problems including drugs, gang violence, crime, and other related social issues."
50 Cent isn't buying her clarification, telling the media outlet Showbuzz that in his eyes, she is now in the same category as Oprah Winfrey, an outspoken critic of gangsta rap.
"I don't like people who don't like me ... that statement changes my perception of Alicia Keys totally. It's just not really a bright comment," said 50.
KRS ONE HIT BY FLYING BOTTLE AT PEACE CONCERT: Rapper rushed to hospital with fractured hand.
*Things got a little violent at a " Stop the Violence" concert featuring KRS-One recently when someone in the crowd threw a bottle on stage, hitting the rapper in the face and hand, reports Allhiphop.com.
The rap legend was performing at a nightclub in New Haven, CT when a concert-goer became upset with security staff who had escorted him off stage and tossed the bottle in reaction.
KRS-One kept a level head, telling the crowd at Toad’s Place nightclub: "Let it go. Let it go. When negativity comes your way, let it go. …Let this be an example as to how we stop the violence."
After his right hand swelled up and became painful during the last 15 minutes of his set, the rapper was rushed by ambulance to Yale-New Haven hospital and treated for a fractured hand and dehydration. Doctors urged the artist to postpone all previously scheduled appearances until he recovers from both ailments.
The old school rapper has requested that the fan not be charged for the assault. However, KRS-One’s management team and the staff of the nightclub advised him to have the fan arrested for legal purposes related to the postponements.
KESHIA KNIGHT PULLIAM TO PLAY A HOOKER: Tyler Perry casts the Cosby kid in his upcoming film 'Madea Goes to Jail.'
*Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, best known as little Rudy Huxtable from the sitcom "The Cosby Show," will play an imprisoned prostitute in the upcoming film "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail."
Lionsgate's big-screen adaptation of Perry's popular stage play will also star Derek Luke and is due to begin filming next month in Atlanta for an early 2009 release.
The 29-year-old Spelman College grad will play Candy, a prisoner who comes to learn valuable life lessons from new inmate Madea, the gun-toting grandma played by Perry himself. Madea arrives on Candy's cell block after her arrest for stealing gas and leading police on a freeway chase. During her incarceration, Candy convinces Madea to take custody of her wayward daughter Toni once she is set free. Luke will play an attorney who has a past with Candy.
Pulliam recently appeared in Perry's TBS series "House of Payne" and is launching an Atlanta-based production company for film and television projects that she has in development.
'SOUL TRAIN: THE MOVIE' ON TRACK AT WARNER BROS: …And it's not a documentary.
*"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius says he has teamed with Warner Bros. Pictures to develop "Soul Train: The Movie," described as a buddy comedy that revolves around two men who dance on the show.
Cornelius tells Reuters that the characters get into "a lot of good stuff and some bad stuff as well." It features "lots of music, lots of comedy," he added, as well as "a little bit of violence." He also promised it would be "more than slightly sensual."
"'Soul Train' has always been about sexuality," Cornelius said. "It's almost never been about guys, and almost always about girls. It's what has kept us afloat for these three decades or so."
Cornelius will serve as producer along with Darryl Porter, the executive producer of the Hughes brothers' 1995 drama "Dead Presidents." The project has yet to name a director or cast, Reuters reports, but Cornelius has made it clear that he will not appear in the film. A first draft of the script is being written by rookie scribe J. Gil Williams, and is due to be turned in next month.
A former Chicago radio DJ who hosted "Soul Train" for its first 22 years, Cornelius said he had long planned to make a movie, but was either busy running the syndicated TV show, or had difficulty getting all the elements together at the same time.
He was able to devote more time to the effort after "Soul Train" ended its historic run in 2006. Cornelius said "Soul Train" and the show that inspired it, Dick Clark's "American Bandstand," together ran for about 70 years, and it was time to rest the simple -- but lucrative -- format of kids in a TV studio dancing to music. He is developing some new "Soul Train"
programming concepts for television, but declined to get into specifics, according to Reuters.
As for his recent announcement that the "22nd annual Soul Train Music Awards" would be cancelled this year, Cornelius said it was a necessary move due to the uncertainty caused by the Hollywood writers strike. The ceremony, which usually takes place in March, must line up top stars to receive honorary awards well in advance, and planning became impossible once the writers began their 100-day walkout last November.
BET, MTV ASSAULT KIDS ONCE EVERY 38 SECONDS: New study says adult content between the two channels runs rampant.
*A new study of daytime music video programming on BET and MTV found that teen viewers are bombarded with sexual, violent, profane or obscene images once every 38 seconds.
“What BET and MTV are offering to children on these three programs is full of offensive and vulgar content, the likes of which cannot yet be found on broadcast television," said Tim Winter. President of the Parents Television Council, who conducted the study in partnership with the Enough is Enough Campaign.
In the study, PTC analyzed the adult content airing during afternoon or early evening hours on BET’s "Rap City" and "106 & Park" and on MTV’s "Sucker Free" for a two-week period in December 2007. The shows were chosen for their daily new and recent video releases.
Because the research data from the December content contained a strikingly high volume and degree of adult-themed material, the PTC conducted an additional week of analysis on the same three programs in March 2008 for purposes of validation. The data revealed even higher levels of adult content in March 2008 than in December 2007.
“BET and MTV are assaulting children with content that is full of sexually charged images, explicit language, portrayals of violence, drug use, drug sales and other illegal activity," said Winter. "Not only that, but we discovered that some offensive words aired only in muted form in December 2007, but as recent as March 2008, these same words were not muted.
“Excluding one program on BET, neither BET nor MTV carried content descriptors that would work in conjunction with the V-Chip to block the programs from coming into the home or to warn parents about the presence of sexual content, suggestive dialogue, violence, or foul language. This is a major problem for parents who are told repeatedly to rely on their V-chips to protect their children,” said Winter.
QUINCY JONES PROTESTS CHINA'S DARFUR TIES: Human rights an issue for musician hired as Beijing Olympics consultant.
*Quincy Jones will serve as a culture and art consultant for the 2008 summer Olympicss in Beijing, but not without reservations about China's poor record on human rights – particularly with respect to its role in the Darfur crisis.
The 75-year-old music vet has met with the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations and was scheduled to address a group of Chinese-American business and cultural leaders in Los Angeles over the weekend to discuss his position on China's ties to the Darfur genocide.
China has been a target of various human-rights groups for its mistreatment of Tibetans and for providing weapons and economic support to Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.
Steven Spielberg, who was also named as an Olympic culture and art consultant, abandoned the role in February in protest of China's role in the Darfur conflict. World leaders have also threatened to boycott the Olympics'
opening ceremonies because of China's human-rights violations. Jones, however, believes he can best bring attention to the issue from the inside.
"It's not my intention to withdraw from the Olympics," he was to say in his speech. "I care too much about Darfur and China and if I can stay in the game with others like us, I feel we can make a difference."
Jones hopes to have a role in assembling an ad-hoc committee to "go to Khartoum to sit down and try to get something done," he said. "The whole world has got to start taking responsibility for each other. With communication, you can no longer afford the luxury of thinking of national kinds of issues. Everything that's done anywhere is a world issue, and together there's lots of things we can do that nobody can do alone."
ASHANTI DENIES ALLEGATIONS SURROUNDING VIDEO: Singer says her knife-wielding character is not aimed at Nelly.
*Ashanti says the graphic content of her video for "Way That I Love You" is in no way directed toward her rumored boyfriend Nelly.
The clip appears to be a dream sequence in which the singer stabs her boyfriend to death after discovering that he has cheated. When asked by People magazine if it's in reference to the St. Louis rapper, she says:
"It's not!"
She explains: "I wrote that record last summer ... The song is just about real life. It's for every woman who has gone through it."
Ashanti said she has "definitely" had experience with cheating boyfriends in the past. But she prefers the less violent approach to listening to Mary J. Blige's "Not Gonna Cry" to deal with the pain.
"It's a rude awakening when you get used to being happy, but it's a part of life. I didn't kill the person!" she says.
The singer has admitted to sifting through the personal property of boyfriends whom she has suspected of cheating – much like her character in the video, who finds incriminating evidence in his Sidekick phone.
"Of course I've snooped! Before [Sidekicks] came out, I was snooping through regular cell phones, Skytel, everything. Whatever he had out, I was all in it." she told People.
As for the current status of her relationship with Nelly? "We're really, really good friends."
RUMORED BEYON'JAY TIFF NEVER HAPPENED? TMZ refutes Internet reports about marital fall-out during Hollywood Bowl gig.
*Reports of newlyweds Beyonce and Jay-Z in a marital tiff hit the Internet late last week sparked by rumors that the rapper told a DJ to stop playing her hit "Crazy in Love" during a Los Angeles tour stop. But TMZ.com claims the reports are false.
As the story goes, Jay-Z was performing to a sold-out crowd Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles when he decided to rap over some popular songs. When the DJ threw on the couple's 2003 duet "Crazy in Love," Jigga reportedly said: "F*** that. Sorry B but f*** that -- let's play something else."
Bey, who was reportedly watching from the side of the stage, was said to have stormed off just before Jay-Z began apologizing. Then later that evening, word has it that the couple had smoothed things out and were cuddling at a private dinner for 40 friends and family – including Michelle Williams, Bey's mother Tina and sister Solange, Jay-Z's touring partner Mary J. Blige and new mom Christina Aguilera – at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's Tropicana Bar.
TMZ, however, says it has spoken to Beyonce's rep and the singer wasn't even in Los Angeles at the time. The Web site also cited sources at the concert who said Jay-Z never dissed "Crazy in Love," and furthermore, never mentioned his wife's name during the concert.
ISIAH THOMAS FIRED AS KNICKS COACH: Move follows horrific basketball season, high-profile lawsuit and fan outrage.
*The death knell sounded Friday for Isiah Thomas' career with the New York Knicks. Although he will remain within the organization, the former Detroit Pistons point guard was fired as coach of the team following a tumultuous season on and off the court.
"It's very difficult to be the coach and general manager," said Thomas, according to the Associated Press. "Maybe it was too much."
Thomas, who also was team president a little more than two weeks ago, will now report directly to new president Donnie Walsh. One of Walsh's first decisions after officially replacing Thomas on April 2 was to change coaches as he begins the process of turning around a team that never won a playoff game in Thomas' tenure.
"I just believe a new voice, a new coach, is necessary to change the direction of the team," Walsh said. "This is a coveted job. People want to coach here."
The Knicks finished 23-59, matching the franchise record for losses, in their seventh straight losing season. Thomas was found to have sexually harassed a former team employee, feuded with point guard Stephon Marbury and benched center Eddy Curry. Also, the players Thomas acquired in the two biggest of a number of moves that never panned out.
Walsh wants a new coach in place by the draft in June. He hasn't talked to any candidates, but mentioned former Knick and current TV analyst Mark Jackson, and assistant coach Herb Williams as people who likely would be interviewed.
JAN ADAMS CAUGHT SPEEDING IN PALM BEACH: Plus, Kanye seeks co-administrator for late mother's estate.
*Dr. Jan Adams was recently issued a speeding ticket in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he escaped from the media spotlight following his operation on Kanye West's mother Donda West hours before her death.
Citing court records, the Palm Beach Post reports the plastic surgeon was caught driving his brand-new Lexus at a speed of 50 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Meanwhile, Kanye West filed legal papers in Los Angeles County Superior Court Friday asking that family friend and music industry exec, Shawn Gee, be named as the co-administrator of his mother's estate.
According to TMZ.com, Donda West's assets are listed at $150,000. She did not leave a will at the time of her death last November. The documents also state that Kanye is the sole beneficiary.
NE-YO SAYS HE'S 'BORED' WITH R&B: Singer gets experimental with upcoming third album 'Year of the Gentleman.'
*After releasing his first two albums in as many years, Ne-Yo was planning to slow down with the recording of his third album in hopes of developing a unique R&B sound. But things didn't go as planned.
"I wanted the third album to be something a little different from the first and second as far as the essence and the sound of what I was doing," he tells Billboard of the Def Jam set, due June 24. "So I was going to chill for a minute and really take some time to figure out what I wanted that to be. Fortunately, it didn't take me that long, which is why the album's coming out now."
Judging by the handful of tracks previewed by Billboard, "Year of the Gentleman" delivers on its promise of offering something a little different from traditional R&B.
According to the magazine, "Closer" is a Stargate-produced club track with pulsing strobe-light synths and a high-energy house beat that calls to mind Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music." "So You Can Cry" sports a mellow, easy-listening vibe, with Ne-Yo making a priceless rhyme of "pity party" and "calamari." Guitars and cymbals figure prominently in "What's the Matter," which Ne-Yo likens to "a Beatles-style rock record."
In addition to Stargate, other producers on the set include members of Ne-Yo’s Atlanta-based Compound Entertainment crew (the HeavyWeights, Shay Taylor, Chuck Harmony), as well as Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and J.R.
Rotem, who struck radio gold last year with his protege Sean Kingston.
His tour with Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks began Saturday (April 19) in Hampton, Va. In the coming months, the artist has at least two forays into movies and TV: a script in development at Fox Atomic that he says "is going to be in the vein of 'Purple Rain'" and an animated series about which he’s in talks with Cartoon Network.
STEVE MCNAIR RETIRES FROM FOOTBALL: Ravens QB says his body isn't quite ready for a 14th season.
*Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair announced his retirement Thursday, ending a 13-year career in which he was selected co-MVP, led the Tennessee Titans to the Super Bowl and orchestrated the most successful regular season in the Ravens history.
He had intentions to carry out the final three years of his contract with the Ravens, but the athlete felt his battered body would never reach 100 percent for the upcoming season.
"Coming out and making this decision, it was hard," he said Thursday during a hastily arranged news conference. "In your mind, you feel like you can play, that you can still compete. But when your mind and your body are not in accord, it's not going to work in the National Football League.
"My mind was there. Mentally, I could go out and play. But physically, I couldn't do it anymore. Not to the capacity that I need to help my teammates win a football game."
McNair received a standing ovation from his teammates after revealing his decision at the press conference. During 2006, his first season in Baltimore, the 35-year-old led the Ravens to a franchise-best 13-3 record.
But he injured his groin during the first game of last season and never fully recovered.
The four-time Pro Bowl star developed back and shoulder injuries and played in only six games in 2007. He threw only two touchdown passes, was intercepted four times and lost seven fumbles before being placed on injured reserve in December, ending his most frustrating season in the NFL.
He underwent surgery on his non-throwing shoulder in December and spent much of the past three months getting ready for his 14th NFL season. But McNair had an inkling that all the running and weightlifting might be for naught.
"My mind was telling me, 'Yes,' and my body was like, 'No, what are you doing?' I came up with (the idea of retiring) two or three days ago, but it's been lingering ever since December."
ITTY BITTY BITS: R. Kelly CD; Eve at 'Hot' party; Grand Marshall Fantasia; Silver Rose auction; 'Deion & Pilar'; NAACP Theatre Awards; "First Sunday"
DVD.
*R. Kelly is preparing to release his next album, "12 Play: Fourth Quarter," sometime before the end of summer, reports Billboard. Kelly made the announcement during his newly-released remix of Mariah Carey's hit, "Touch My Body." The first single from the album, "Hair Braider," is the top debut this week at No. 59 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. A video was shot in Chicago last month by director Malcolm Jones.
*Rapper Eve was among the celebrities on hand for US Weekly magazine's Hot Hollywood party, which was held Thursday at Eva Longoria's new Beso restaurant in Hollywood. According to the AP, Eve talked her way into the VIP area, telling a security guard: "I'm sure it will be OK." Black Eyed Pea will.i.am disappeared into the crowd shortly after his arrival.
Other famous faces at the event included Heidi Klum and Nicky Hilton.
*Fantasia Barrino will serve as grand marshal of this year's Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Va. The Broadway superstar and winner of "American Idol's" third season will be the celebrity marshal for the Grand Feature parade on May 3.Up next for the 23-year-old is an upcoming film version of the Broadway musical "The Color Purple," which recently rapped a stint with Barrino in the lead role of Celie.
*A small walk-on role on NBC's "Scrubs," a private lesson with Tiger Woods' golf instructor David Leadbetter and a signed Andre Agassi tennis racket and ball are among the items available for auction at the 2008 Silver Rose Weekend, the Halle Berry-hosted event to be held April 27-28 to benefit Jenesse Center, Inc. Participants may place bids online through April 25 at www.jenesse.cmarket.com. For more information on The Silver Rose Weekend, call the Jenesse Center at 323-299-9496, ext. 103 or visit the Web site at www.jenesse.org. All events are ticketed and open to the public.
*Oxygen's "Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love" set network records in its premiere Tuesday, becoming the channel's most-watched original series premiere ever among total viewers (579,000) and the key demos of women 18-34 (250,000), adults 18-49 (438,000) and women 18-49 (334,000). "Deion & Pilar" follows the home life of sports superstar Deion Sanders, his wife Pilar and their five kids, who all live in the small town of Prosper, Texas.
*The 18th Annual Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Theatre Awards, hosted by Kimberly Elise and Anthony Anderson, will be held June 30 in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre (6801 Hollywood Blvd.) The annual event honors excellence in theatre featuring African-American themes and performers. Tickets are $35 - $350 and are available at ticketmaster.com beginning May 1. For more information, visit http://bhwdnaacptheatreawards.com or call 323-464-7616.
*The film "First Sunday," starring Ice Cube, Katt Williams and Tracy Morgan, will be available on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and PSP on May 13 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The DVD and Blu-ray Discs will include such bonus materials as Filmmaker Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, Featurettes and more. The Blu-ray High-Def disc will include “The All-Mighty Version Enhanced Fact Track,” which includes Pop-Up Trivia and Fun Facts about the film’s story, cast and production.
FLORIDA WOMAN STEALS $40,000 FROM BETHUNE-COOKMAN: Plus, USC gets $25M from African American widow.
*Around the same time that a record-setting donation was given to the University of Southern California by an African American widow, a Florida woman was discovered to have stolen $40,000 from her former job at HBCU Bethune-Cookman University.
USC will receive $25 million from Verna Dauterive, a retired Los Angeles schoolteacher and principal who pledged the money in the name of her late husband, Peter, a prominent Los Angeles businessman. He was a USC business grad who became president of a savings and loan that sold mortgages in inner-city Los Angeles.
The private school in Los Angeles says it's the largest gift ever made by an African-American to an American university. Dauterive, a USC alumnus, says the donation is a way of thanking the school for its dedication to diversity and global outreach.
Meanwhile, a City Hall employee in Daytona Beach was arrested at her job Friday, accused by police of depositing $40,000 in checks, meant for Bethune-Cookman students, into a bank account that belonged to her.
Elgena Wallace, 32, of Port Orange, was an accounting division employee when she worked at the Bethune-Cookman. She was charged with organizing a scheme to defraud and is being held on $20,000 bail, police said.
This is the second recent fraud incident at the university. In February, longtime Bethune-Cookman University employee Sheila Davis Jackson was sentenced to 10 years’ probation after she pleaded no contest to a grand theft charge.
Jackson, 55, a former finance advisor, agreed to pay $40,640 in restitution that prosecutors said was taken from a program that pays student educational expenses for work they do at the school.
EUR DVD REVIEW: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Crime Saga Courtesy of Legendary Sidney Lumet Comes to DVD
DVD Review by Kam Williams
*Though well into his eighties, Sidney Lumet hasn't lost his edge. Exhibit A is this masterfully-crafted, multi-layered murder mystery by the legendary director which earned the #3 spot on this critic's Top Ten List for 2007.
At the point of departure of the tawdry tale of greed and betrayal, we find Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hanson) in the heat of passion with his high-maintenance trophy wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei).
Despite pulling down a decent salary as a corporate executive in New York City, seems that he can't make enough money to support both his heroin habit and keep her happy with her lavish lifestyle.
He comes up with a solution to the problem, namely, to rob a mom-and-pop jewelry store in a suburban mall. And he already has a place picked out, the one owned by his parents up in Westchester.
So, he enlists the assistance of his struggling brother in hatching what's supposed to be the perfect crime. What Andy doesn't know is that Hank (Ethan
Hawke) is a shameless backstabber who has been secretly carrying on a passionate affair with Gina. Although initially hesitant, he agrees to enter the conspiracy because he's several months behind in child support to his vindictive ex-wife (Amy Ryan) and doesn't want to be denied visitation.
Needless to say, some of the best laid plans go awry, and the confederate (Brian O'Byrne) Hank hires to pull off the heist ends up mortally wounding their mother (Rosemary Harris) in an unanticipated exchange of gunfire. He dies at the scene, too, during the commission of the crime, which means it's just a matter of time before circumstantial evidence starts to point at the grieving siblings.
With the cops, the triggerman's widow (Aleska Palladino), a blackmailing mobster (Michael Shannon) and their own disconsolate father (Alberty Finney) all closing in, perhaps the best the despicable pair can hope for is summed up in the Irish saying from which the film takes its title: "May you be in heaven, half an hour before the devil knows you're dead."
Vintage Lumet!
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for nudity, violence, drug use, profanity and graphic sexuality.
Running time: 117 minutes
Studi Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Director and cast commentary, "The Making of" featurette, and a theatrical trailer.
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible. — Richard M. DeVos
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
April 21: Rapper Michael Franti of Spearhead is 42.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Sizta 2 Sizta is a site for black women seeking info on how to grow and maintain long healthy hair: www.sizta2sizta.com
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
Apr. 21, 1974: Lee Elder becomes the first African American professional golfer to qualify for the Masters Tournament. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)
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